Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Friday 9 July 1999

Scottish Executive

Benefits Withdrawal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider responding to the withdrawal of entitlement to benefits during the summer from low paid workers in schools and colleges by making arrangements for holiday payments to affected workers within its areas of responsibility.

Mr Frank McAveety: As independent corporate bodies it is for individual local authorities and further education colleges to determine the pay and conditions of employment of their employees and the Scottish Executive has no locus to intervene. Their eligibility for benefit is a reserved matter and is the responsibility of the Department of Social Security which, I understand, is aware of the situation.

Finance

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends in future to publish the rate of return received by private sector investors in respect of each contract for a private finance initiative project on which public money is spent.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive has no plans to publish this information. The rate of return achieved by the private sector will depend on how successful they are in managing risk during the life of a contract. The operators’ accounts will be publicly available.

  I announced on 24 June that the Scottish Executive will make available the annual expenditure commitments associated with Government public-private partnerships, sector by sector. In addition, for future projects Full Business Cases will be published, which will show whether projects represent value for money.

Finance

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will accept the recommendation of Chantrey Vellacott DFK that the rate of return should be published in all PFI contracts.

Mr Jack McConnell: No. I refer Mr Ewing to my reply given to his question (S1W-261) on 9 July 1999.

Fisheries

Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive in the light of the Infectious Salmon Anaemia crisis, when it intends to implement the commitments made by HM Government on 8 February 1999 to the many Highlands and Islands communities reliant on salmon farming to restore job security and investor confidence in the industry.

Mr John Home Robertson: The Minister for Rural Affairs and I met the industry on 11 June. The commitment given by HM Government on 8 February envisaged support totalling £3 million per annum for 3 years subject to matching funding from the industry. A subsequent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggested that the required funding from the industry was unlikely to be forthcoming and proposed that the Government funds should be channelled through Highlands & Islands Enterprise. The industry has subsequently proposed that the Government should offer insurance against the disease. My officials are now in discussion with industry representatives about the options for addressing this problem.

Local Government

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of the allocation that each local authority will receive of the additional £5 million over each of the next 3 years earmarked for increasing the provision of respite care in Scotland.

Iain Gray: The Grant Aided Expenditure shares for 1999-2000 of the £5.1 million provided to assist the development of respite care and other services to help carers are set out below. GAE allowances are not expenditure guidelines and it is for individual authorities to determine the level of expenditure on particular services and client groups .

  GAE Share of Carers/Respite Care Allowances 1999-2000

  


Council


1999-2000 GAE Allocation*


% Share




 


£000
  

 




Aberdeen City
  

211
  

4.1%
  



Aberdeenshire
  

192
  

3.8%
  



Angus
  

120
  

2.3%
  



Argyll & Bute
  

106
  

2.1%
  



Clackmannanshire
  

 49
  

1.0%
  



Dumfries & Galloway
  

153
  

3.0%
  



Dundee City
  

168
  

3.3%
  



East Ayrshire
  

125
  

2.4%
  



East Dunbartonshire
  

 85
  

1.7%
  



East Lothian
  

 90
  

1.8%
  



East Renfrewshire
  

 74
  

1.5%
  



Edinburgh, City of
  

453
  

8.9%
  



Eilean Siar
  

 36
  

0.7%
  



Falkirk
  

136
  

2.7%
  



Fife
  

355
  

7.0%
  



Glasgow City
  

690
  

13.5%
  



Highland
  

198
  

3.9%
  



Inverclyde
  

 93
  

1.8%
  



Midlothian
  

 68
  

1.3%
  



Moray
  

 80
  

1.6%
  



North Ayrshire
  

143
  

2.8%
  



North Lanarkshire
  

309
  

6.1%
  



Orkney Islands
  

 19
  

0.4%
  



Perth & Kinross
  

139
  

2.7%
  



Renfrewshire
  

164
  

3.2%
  



Scottish Borders
  

120
  

2.4%
  



Shetland Islands
  

 21
  

0.4%
  



South Ayrshire
  

124
  

2.4%
  



South Lanarkshire
  

278
  

5.5%
  



Stirling
  

 82
  

1.6%
  



West Dunbartonshire
  

 94
  

1.8%
  



West Lothian
  

123
  

2.4%
  



Scotland


5100


100.0%




  In addition, there is £5m this financial year for implementing "Modernising Community Care: An Action Plan", a significant element of which is development of respite care. This is expected to increase each year, with the allocation to each authority in future years dependent on their performance in implementing the Action Plan.